1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to an optical disc apparatus and, more particularly, to an optical disc apparatus used in a personal computer.
2. Related Art
Optical disc drive apparatuses have been widely used in audio and video equipment for reading and/or reproducing audio, video, documents, and the like, in a variety of media, such as CD (Compact Disc), DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), etc.
A conventional optical disc apparatus generally includes an optical pickup head and a circuit board. The optical head is used for reading information from an optical disc and transmitting electrical signals containing the information. The circuit board electrically connects with the optical head for receiving the electrical signals and reproducing information based on the received electrical signals.
Therefore, the pickup head generally includes a light source, an objective lens, and a photodetector. The light source emits a laser beam, and then the objective lens focuses the laser beam onto a recording layer of the optical disc. The focused laser beam is modulated by the information contained in the optical disc and reflected by the recording layer of the optical disc, so as to form a return beam. The return beam is converged by the objective lens and illuminates the photodetector. The photodetector generates electrical signals based on the return beam impinging thereon.
Hence, when a read-out surface of the optical disc and/or the objective lens is covered by dust, the laser beam may fail to be adequately focused on the recording layer of the optical disc. Furthermore, there are many chips on the circuit board. When the optical disc apparatus is in operation, these chips tend to produce a lot of heat. If these chips are covered by dust, the heat-sinking capability of the circuit board can be reduced. This reduced ability to remove such excess heat is liable to reduce the life of the optical disc apparatus.
Referring to FIG. 5, an optical disc apparatus 300 with a dustproof structure is illustrated. The optical disc apparatus 300 includes a base 301, a tray 302, a turntable 304, an optical pickup head (not shown), and a cover 312. The tray 304 is slidably engaged with the base 301 for loading and unloading an optical disc (not shown) onto or from the turntable 304. The turntable 304 is mounted on the base 301, for rotating the optical disc arranged thereon. The optical pickup head is slidably installed in the base 301, for reading information from the optical disc. The cover 312 is integrated with the base 301 and straddles the tray 302, thereby preventing the optical pickup head from being covered by dust or at least minimizing the opportunity for dust to collect thereon.
However, in the above-described optical disc apparatus 300, the cover 312 is located above the optical pickup head, the tray 301 and the optical disc, arranged on the turntable 304, so that a large space is located between the cover 312 and the optical pickup head. Therefore, dust also can cover the optical pickup head and other components, which are located below the cover 312, such as a circuit board.
Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies related to the dust-proof structure.